Cowlitz, WA
A PlainEnviro-computed score from reported facility/violation counts, not an official EPA rating, health forecast, or population-adjusted rate. See methodology. This is a different measure than the EJ Screening score for this county, which ranks it by percentile against every other tracked county rather than against fixed national thresholds.
Environmental data for Cowlitz in Washington · Population: 111,539
Cowlitz, WA is tracked across three EPA datasets covering 18 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) facilities, 33 Safe Drinking Water Act systems, and 0 Superfund National Priorities List sites. Together these generate an environmental burden score of 53/100 (Moderate Risk), calibrated against national distributions for facility density, chemical release volume, Superfund concentration, and water-system health violations.
Industrial disclosures inside the county total 11.9M lbs of reported toxic releases under EPCRA Section 313, while 4 water systems carry an active health-based violation in the SDWIS record. EPA Air Quality System monitors logged a median AQI of 22 and a peak AQI of 67 in 2024, with 95% of observed days rated "Good" (0–50).
All figures below draw directly from federal EPA records, TRI self-reported emissions, SDWIS compliance history, NPL Hazard Ranking System scores, and AQS daily AQI summaries, and are not adjusted, weighted, or forecast. A past violation or elevated score does not itself indicate current unsafe conditions; it documents the regulatory and disclosure history publicly filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the most recent reporting cycle.
Air Quality History (2020–2024)
EPA Air Quality Index (AQI) data showing how many days per year fall into each air quality category.
| Year | Good | Moderate | Unhealthy (SG) | Max AQI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 349 (95%) | 17 | 0 | 67 |
| 2023 | 323 (88%) | 42 | 0 | 89 |
| 2022 | 316 (87%) | 45 | 2 | 144 |
| 2021 | 355 (97%) | 10 | 0 | 64 |
| 2020 | 331 (90%) | 26 | 1 | 282 |
Source: EPA Air Quality System (AQS) Annual AQI by County EPA Air Quality System (AQS) Annual AQI by County AQI categories: Good (0-50), Moderate (51-100), Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101-150), Unhealthy (151-200), Very Unhealthy (201-300), Hazardous (301+)
For real-time air quality readings and pollutant breakdowns in Washington, see the EPA's AirNow.gov.
Water Systems (33)
| System | Population | Violations |
|---|---|---|
| LONGVIEW WATER DEPARTMENT | 49,111 | 0 |
| KELSO CITY OF | 15,097 | 0 |
| BEACON HILL WATER & SEWER DISTRICT | 11,969 | 0 |
| WOODLAND CITY OF | 10,640 | 0 |
| KALAMA CITY OF | 8,020 | 0 |
| CASTLE ROCK MUNICIPAL WATER | 4,367 | 0 |
| TOUTLE COMMUNITY REGIONAL WATER | 2,904 | 0 |
| RYDERWOOD IMPROVEMENT & SERVICE AS | 434 | 0 |
| LEWIS RIVER RV PARK | 347 | 0 |
| LEWIS RIVER GOLF COURSE | 300 | 0 |
| PETERSON FARMS | 290 | 0 |
| COLUMBIA RIVERFRONT RV PARK | 233 | 0 |
| DAVIS TERRACE WATER ASSN | 222 | 0 |
| Beacon Hill East | 190 | 0 |
| CAMELOT SUBDIVISION | 142 | 0 |
| LAZY ACRES MOBILE HOME PARK (GU) | 126 | 2 |
| SANDWOOD HEIGHTS SUBDIVISION | 126 | 0 |
| OWL CREEK | 102 | 0 |
| BROOKSIDE | 100 | 5 |
| MERWIN VILLAGE/PARK PPL CO | 92 | 0 |
| VANRIDGE MOBILE HOME PARK | 71 | 0 |
| DESCHUTES MOBILE PARK | 62 | 0 |
| RIVERVIEW TRAILER PARK | 60 | 0 |
| TUKES MOUNTAIN HOMEOWNERS | 60 | 0 |
| PARADISE COVE RESORT & RV PARK | 59 | 0 |
| MAGNA VISTA WATER CORP | 56 | 0 |
| KELLEY CREST | 45 | 1 |
| TOUTLE RIVER VIEW | 45 | 0 |
| ESTATES AT LIVINGSTON MTN | 33 | 0 |
| Tulip Meadows | 33 | 0 |
| PLEASANT HILL TERRACE SUBDIVISION | 30 | 0 |
| VIKING VILLAGE MOBILE HOME PARK | 25 | 0 |
| HAZEL DELL MOBILE PARK | 24 | 2 |
TRI Facilities (18)
| # | Facility | Total Releases |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westrock Longview LLC | 5.7M lbs |
| 2 | Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. | 4.1M lbs |
| 3 | North Pacific Paper Co LLC Longview | 1.7M lbs |
| 4 | Lanxess Corp Kalama Site | 158.1K lbs |
| 5 | Skyline Steel Llc-Longview | 103.1K lbs |
| 6 | Westlake US 2 LLC - Longview | 49.1K lbs |
| 7 | Steelscape | 27.8K lbs |
| 8 | Glacier Northwest Inc Woodland Ready-Mix Plant | 7.1K lbs |
| 9 | Foster Poultry Farms Kelso Plant | 4.1K lbs |
| 10 | Solvay Chemicals Inc | 2.9K lbs |
| 11 | Glacier Northwest Inc Longview Ready-Mix Plant | 235 lbs |
| 12 | Fxi Inc. - Longview | 124 lbs |
| 13 | Woodland Usnr LLC | 86 lbs |
| 14 | Owens-Brockway Glass Container Inc - Plant #02 | 33 lbs |
| 15 | Hasa Inc | 21 lbs |
| 16 | Arch Wood Protection | 12 lbs |
| 17 | Kelso Rm | 1 lbs |
| 18 | Interfor Longview Div | 0 lbs |
Cities in Cowlitz (4)
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the environmental risk level in Cowlitz, Washington? ▼
Are there Superfund sites in Cowlitz? ▼
How many toxic release facilities are in Cowlitz? ▼
What is the air quality in Cowlitz? ▼
Is the drinking water safe in Cowlitz? ▼
What environmental agencies cover Cowlitz? ▼
What does this county environmental profile show?
This county environmental profile rolls up EPA Toxics Release Inventory facility reports, Safe Drinking Water Information System public-water-system filings, and Superfund National Priorities List sites for the county boundary defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Facility counts reflect facilities with a reporting address inside the county, not where downstream environmental effects may be observed. Population figures are from the most recent Census ACS 5-year estimate. The county detail page is updated whenever the upstream EPA programs publish revised data; see the methodology page for the documented ingest cadence and the editorial choices governing how aggregations are computed.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.